Resident posthumously honored by historical society

Published 7:00 pm, Monday, May 27, 2002

When Robert Garrett opened the mail one day in early March, he found an emotional and pleasant surprise awaiting him.

At its 106th annual meeting, the Texas State Historical Association adopted a resolution in honor of his late wife's accomplishments in Texas history.

The resolution acknowledges Daphne Dalaton-Garrett's membership in the Texas State Historical Association, her education, research, publications and her death.

"I didn't know anything about it until I got a noticed in the mail. I don't even know who proposed the idea," said Robert. "It's a great honor for my wife and I think she deserved it."

Daphne received a bachelors degree in music and music history at St. Louis Institute of Music and a masters degree and a partial doctorate degree from Northwestern University in piano performance and music history.

She taught for a while in Tennessee then moved back to Texas and married Robert Garrett. The couple moved to West Houston and had one son, Lawrence Lee. Robert worked for Exxon and Daphne continued to teach music.

When she was unable to physically perform well in music because of problems in her shoulders and arms, she shifted her attention to studying Texas history topics.

When the couple purchased a ranch house near La Grange and Giddings in 1976, Daphne quickly became fascinated with the Wendish Heritage.

"The area where we bought our ranch property is thought to be a German settlement area in Texas, but it's really also Wendish," said Robert. "The Wendish people were a group of people that settled among the Germans and Czeches in La Grange, Giddings, Warda, Serbin and north of Giddings."

Daphne learned German and actively pursued information from books and residents on the Wendish heritage. She focused her efforts on researching the Wendish history and documenting the culture's arts and crafts.

In 1998, she published the book "Giddings Deutsches Volksblatt 1899-1949": A History of the Newspaper and Print Shop of the Texas Wends," which is about the trilingual newspaper that was published in Giddings for 50 years.

"She started from scratch when she wrote the book because it had almost been totally forgotten," said Robert. "The majority of people in Giddings didn't even remember that old newspaper had ever even existed. She went to the relatives of the old printers to start her research."

Another area that captured Daphne's interest was Wendish Easter eggs. She wrote "The Art of Decorating Wendish Easter Eggs" and created a revival in the art. The once dying art form is now a popular element at the Wendish fest in September.

Other accomplishments included voluntarily researching and authoring seven articles in "The New Handbook of Texas" including "Fayette County."

"She volunteered and was chosen to write certain articles that came out in 1998 in 'The New Handbook of Texas,'" said Robert. "Of course they had the old handbook that contained stuff that she knew was not right. Some had been written based on hearsay and non-scholarly work, so she wrote her articles based on true research that she had done at various courthouses, libraries."

In addition to writing about Wendish heritage, Daphne sought to preserve existing Wendish buildings and artifacts.

She was an archivist of the Texas Wendish Heritage Museum in Serbin, Texas for 20 years.

During that time she preserved and displayed artifacts that had been collected over the years by the museum. She took archive courses to learn how to properly preserve archives and taught workers proper archive principles.

"All of their archives, including bibles, documents and other items that were ancient from the old country were in boxes collecting dirt, dust and mold," said Robert. "So, she started cleaning them up and putting them in proper archive boxes so they wouldn't deteriorate any more."

She helped rally to get a new museum building funded, designed and constructed as well as two log cabins that were restored on the museum grounds.

An important feature in the new museum is a vault where historical documents and items are protected and stored.

"Before this, people would just bring a box of collectibles to the old building when someone passed away," said Robert. "It was overwhelming for the people who worked there because they had other things they had to do, so the stuff just remained in boxes."

Daphne continued to work documenting and preserving the Wendish Heritage until her death on Jan 19, 2001.

"She became more and more proficient with the Wendish as well as the German history and genealogy up until her death," said Robert. "She liked the people she interviewed and the work she was doing. It's a great honor for my wife to be recognized for her work."